This guide was created honoring the work and ideas of Dr. Sheltreese "Treese" D. McCoy, a fierce advocate for racial justice, disability rights, intersectionality, queer folks (especially queer and trans people of color) and more. Among many other things during her time at the University of Wisconsin—Madison, Treese first created the QPOC Resource Guide, which highlighted books, articles, movies, organizations, websites and blogs that featured queer and trans people of color.
This is where we found inspiration to create a similar guide for students at UMKC and the surrounding area. Treese was a trailblazer in this community. With this guide, we hope to honor her name and legacy as best we can.
Find out more about Treese and her work
Contribute to this resource
QTPOC stands for Queer and Transgender People of Color.
Queer and Transgender People of Color experience marginalization at the intersection of racism, heterosexism, ethnocentrism, xenophobia, queerphobia, and transphobia.
The LGBTQIA+ movement is largely and unfairly dominated by white, upper/middle-class gay and lesbian communities. It is much more common to see white LGBTQIA+ representation in media or pop culture. At the same time, LGBTQIA+ identity is often underrepresented within communities of color. This resource guide aims to help highlight works that represent QTPOC in literature, articles, and films, as well as provide resources that celebrate QTPOC in all their identities.
The opinions and views expressed within the resources provided do not necessarily reflect the opinions or views of the University of Missouri—Kansas City (UMKC), and this guide does not constitute or imply UMKC’s endorsement, recommendations, or favoring of the organizations or individuals mentioned. The resources within are by no means an exhaustive list.
Affirmative Action; Equity & Title IX
Admin Center, Room 212
816-235-1771
eqtix@umkc.edu
Community Counseling and Assessment Services (CCAS)
School of Education, Room 212
816-235-2725
umkcccasservices@umkc.edu
Counseling Services
Brookside 51 Building, Room 201
816-235-1635
cthc@umkc.edu
Department of Race, Ethnic and Gender Studies (REGS)
Haag Hall, Room 204
816-235-5854
regs@umkc.edu
Division of Diversity and Inclusion
Admin Center, Room 361
816-235-6728
diversityandinclusion@umkc.edu
Financial Wellness Center
Admin Center, Suite 101
816-235-1269
financialwellness@umkc.edu
Gay and Lesbian Archives of Mid-America (GLAMA)
Miller Nichols Library, Third Floor
816-235-1532
specialcollections@umkc.edu
International Student Affairs Office
Atterbury Student Success Center, G-04
816-235-1113
isao@umkc.edu
Kangaroo Pantry
4825 Troost, Room 103
816-235-1457
kangaroopantry@umkc.edu
LGBTQIA Programs & Services
Student Union, Suite 320
816-235-1639
lgbtqia@umkc.edu
Multicultural Student Affairs
Student Union, Suite 319
816-235-1109
umkcmulticulturalsa@umkc.edu
RISE: Resources, Intervention, Support, and Education
Haag Hall, Room 108
816-235-1652
umkcrise@umkc.edu
Student Disability Services
Brookside 51 Building, Room 225
816-235-5612
disability@umkc.edu
Student Health & Wellness
Brookside 51 Building, Room 237
816-235-6133
studenthealth@umkc.edu
Veteran’s Services
Student Union, Room 310
816-235-5599
gormlyea@umkc.edu
Women’s Center
Haag Hall, Room 105
816-235-1638
umkc-womens-center@umkc.edu
Black Rainbow
An organization dedicated to the liberation of all oppressed peoples. Black Rainbow views liberation through an intersectional lens and knows that until women, LGBTQIA+, immigrants, Muslims, and other oppressed groups are free, none of us are.
BlaqOut
A united community of individual advocates, community activists, and healthcare professionals who work to address the psychosocial and environmental challenges faced by Black MSM in the Greater Kansas City Area.
Brown Voices/Brown Pulse
Queer and trans people of color interested in an exploration and discussion on the state of QTPOC in Kansas City.
Kansas City Anti-Violence Project
Provides advocacy and education to the LGBTQ+ community on topics such as domestic violence, sexual assault, and hate crimes in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.
Kansas City Center for Inclusion, Inc. (KCCI)
Provides safe, inclusive LGBTQIA+ community spaces where people can come for education, resources, and activities.
Kansas City Diversity Coalition
Committed to facilitating leadership and coalition building for the empowerment of LGBTQIA individuals in the Kansas City Metro Area through advocacy, education, and community development.
Kansas/Missouri Dream Alliance
Exists to serve and advocate for immigrant rights and higher education for undocumented youth regardless of citizenship status, sexual orientation, race, color, gender, and national or ethnic origin.
Bklyn Boihood
Creates spaces where black, brown queer and trans bois* and their communities can cultivate stories, dreams, and creative work.
Black Transman Inc
Ensures that all transgender men and TLGB individuals are acknowledged and provided equal access and protection under the law thereby enabling them to contribute towards a productive society.
The Brown Boi Project
A community of people working across race and gender to eradicate sexism, homophobia and transphobia and create healthy frameworks of masculinity and change.
Center for Black Equity
Promotes a multinational LGBTQ+ network dedicated to improving health and wellness opportunities, economic empowerment, and equal rights while promoting individual and collective work, responsibility, and self-determination.
DeQH (Desi lgbtQ Helpline for Queer South Asians)
An all-volunteer collective dedicated to strengthening wellness and reducing isolation by connecting LGBQ/TGNB+ South Asians to communities and resources that support and promote healing and thriving. They provide free, confidential, culturally sensitive peer support by and for LGBQ/TGNB+ South Asians in the United States.
Immigration Equality
America’s leading LGBTQ and HIV-positive immigrant rights organization.
Muslim Alliance for Sexual and Gender Diversity (MASGD)
Works to support, empower, and connect LGBTQ Muslims.
Muslims for Progressive Values (LGBTQ Rights Division)
An inclusive community rooted in the traditional Qur’anic ideals of human dignity and social justice.
National Black Justice Coalition
A civil rights organization dedicated to the empowerment of Black lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer (LGBTQ) and same gender loving (SGL) people, including people living with HIV/AIDS.
National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA)
A federation of LGBTQ Asian American, South Asian, Southeast Asian and Pacific Islander organizations. NQAPIA seeks to build the capacity of local LGBT Asian American, Pacific Islander (AAPI) organizations, invigorate grassroots organizing, develop leadership, and challenge homophobia, racism, and anti-immigrant bias.
Queer Women of Color Media Arts Project (QWOCMAP)
Promotes the creation, exhibition and distribution of new films/videos that address the vital social justice issues that concern queer women of color and our communities, authentically reflect our life stories, and build community through art and activism.
Therapy for Queer People of Color
A mental health network and group therapy practice based in Atlanta, Georgia. Their goal is to increase access to quality and inclusive mental healthcare for queer and trans folks of color through empowerment & education.
Trans People of Color Coalition (TPOCC)
Exists to advance justice for all trans people of color. We amplify our stories, support our leadership, and challenge issues of racism, transphobia, and transmisogyny.
Trans Women of Color Collective (TWOCC)
Uplifts the narratives, leadership, and lived experiences of trans people of color while building towards the collective liberation of all oppressed people.
The Tribal Equity Toolkit 3.0: Tribal Resolutions and Codes to Support Two Spirit and LGBTQ Justice in Indian Country
Provides sample legal language for adapting tribal resolutions and codes to recognize the rights of all tribal citizens, including Two Spirit and LGBTQ Natives.
& more black
t’ai freedom ford (2019)
t’ai freedom ford’s second collection of poems, & more black, is direct, ingenious, vibrant, alive, queer, & BLACK.
America, Vol. 1 & 2
Gabby Rivera, Joe Quiñones, Annie Wu, Jen Bartel, and Stacey Lee (2017-2018)
Viva Miss America, Protector of the Omniverse! Chavez hails from a Utopian Parallel, threatened with destruction. After both her parents died to save their world, America upheld their legacy as a Young Avenger and member of the Ultimates! Beyond super strength, flight and incredible one-liners, America can punch star-shaped holes through dimensions.
Among the Blood People: Politics and Flesh
Thomas Glave (2013)
Each essay in the volume reveals a passionate commitment to social justice and human truth. Whether confronting Jamaica’s prime minister on anti-gay bigotry, contemplating the risks and seductions of “outlawed” sex, exploring a world of octopuses and men performing somersaults in the Caribbean Sea, or challenging repressive tactics employed at the University of Cambridge, Glave expresses the observations of a global citizen with the voice of a poet.
Ascension: A Tangled Axon Novel
Jacqueline Koyanagi (2013)
Alana Quick, a young black lesbian who happens to be an incredible sky surgeon, gets more than she bargained for when she stowed away on the cargo vessel Tangled Axon. Although all she wanted was a job, Alana finds danger, adventure, and an unexpected romance.
Beautiful Bottom, Beautiful Shame: Where “Black” Meets “Queer”
Kathryn Bond Stockton (2006)
Shame, Kathryn Bond Stockton argues in Beautiful Bottom, Beautiful Shame, has often been a meeting place for the signs “black” and “queer” and for black and queer people—overlapping groups who have been publicly marked as degraded and debased.
Bingo Love
Tee Franklin, Jenn St-Onge, Joy San, and Cardinal Rae (2017)
An LGBTQ romance story that spans over 60 years. A chance meeting at church bingo in 1963 brings Hazel Johnson and Mari McCray together. Through their formative years, these two women develop feelings for each other and finally profess their love for one another. But fate had another plan.
Changing Ones: Third and Fourth Genders in Native North America
Will Roscoe (2000)
Gender diversity—in the form of third and fourth gender roles—is one of the most common and least understood features of native North America. Such roles have been documented in over 150 tribes throughout the continent.
Chulito: A Novel
Charles Rice-Gonzalez (2011)
Set against a vibrant South Bronx neighborhood and the queer youth culture of Manhattan's piers, Chulito is a coming-of-age, coming out love story of a sexy, tough, hip hop-loving, young Latino man and the colorful characters who populate his block.
The City of Devi: A Novel
Manil Suri (2013)
Mumbai is on the brink of nuclear destruction when two unlikely allies come together in an effort to survive. Sarita is desperate to find her husband when she meets Jaz, a gay Muslim man trying to relocate his own lost lover.
The City We Became
N K Jemisin (2020)
Three-time Hugo Award-winning and New York Times bestselling author N.K. Jemisin crafts her most incredible novel yet, a "glorious" story of culture, identity, magic, and myths in contemporary New York City.
The Color Purple
Alice Walker (1982)
Alice Walker's Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Color Purple has been praised for its portrayal of both African American women and lesbianism. A powerful story that frankly deals with issues of racism, sexism, violence, and discrimination, The Color Purple is usually required college reading for a reason.
Crazy Brave: A Memoir
Joy Harjo (2012)
In this transcendent memoir, grounded in tribal myth and ancestry, music, and poetry, Joy Harjo details her journey to becoming a poet.
Desiring Arabs
Joseph Massad (2007)
Sexual desire has long played a key role in Western judgments about the value of Arab civilization. In the past, Westerners viewed the Arab world as licentious, and Western intolerance of sex led them to brand Arabs as decadent; but as Western society became more sexually open, the supposedly prudish Arabs soon became viewed as backward.
For Colored Boys Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Still Not Enough: Coming of Age, Coming Out, and Coming Home
Keith Boykin (2012)
Boykin addresses the issues of sexual abuse, suicide, HIV/AIDS, racism, and homophobia in the African American and Latino communities, specifically young gay men of color. This book tells stories of real people coming of age, coming out, dealing with religion and spirituality, seeking love and relationships, finding their own identity in or out of the LGBT community, and creating their own sense of political empowerment.
Funny Boy
Shyam Selvadurai (1997)
We follow the life of a family through Arjie's eyes, as he comes to terms with both his own homosexuality and with the racism of the society in which he lives. North of Sri Lanka there is a war happening, and gradually it begins to encroach on the family's comfortable life. Sporadic acts of violence flare into full scale riots and lead, ultimately, to tragedy.
Global Divas: Filipino Gay Men in the Diaspora
Martin F. Manalansan IV (2003)
A vivid ethnography of the global and transnational dimensions of gay identity as lived by Filipino immigrants in New York City, Global Divas challenges beliefs about the progressive development of a gay world and the eventual assimilation of all queer folks into gay modernity.
The Grief Keeper
Alexandra Villasante (2019)
The Grief Keeper is a tender tale that explores the heartbreak and consequences of when both love and human beings are branded illegal.
How We Fight for Our Lives
Saeed Jones (2019)
Haunted and haunting, Jones’s memoir tells the story of a young, black, gay man from the South as he fights to carve out a place for himself, within his family, within his country, within his own hopes, desires, and fears.
Hull
Xandria Phillips (2019)
This first collection by African American poet Xandria Phillips explores the present-day emotional impacts of enslavement and colonization on the Black queer body in urban, rural, and international settings. HULL is lyrical, layered, history-ridden, experimental, textured, grounded in prose poems, adorned, ecstatic, and emotionally investigative.
Huntress
Malinda Lo (2011)
Another moving love story between two strong and powerful women, Huntress is filled with enough action, adventure, and fantasy to keep readers hooked until the last page.
In the Dream House
Carmen Maria Machado (2019)
For years Carmen Maria Machado has struggled to articulate her experiences in an abusive same-sex relationship. In this extraordinarily candid and radically inventive memoir, Machado tackles a dark and difficult subject with wit, inventiveness and an inquiring spirit, as she uses a series of narrative tropes—including classic horror themes—to create an entirely unique piece of work which is destined to become an instant classic.
Juliet Takes a Breath
Gabby Rivera (2016)
After coming out to her family and getting a less-than warm reception, Juliet, a Puerto Rican lesbian from the Bronx, takes off for Portland, OR, where she is determined to figure her life (and herself) out.
Let’s Talk About Love
Claire Kann (2018)
Alice had her whole summer planned. Non-stop all-you-can-eat buffets while marathoning her favorite TV shows (best friends totally included) with the smallest dash of adulting--working at the library to pay her share of the rent. The only thing missing from her perfect plan? Her girlfriend (who ended things when Alice confessed she's asexual). Alice is done with dating--no thank you, do not pass go, stick a fork in her, done.
Life is Wonderful, People are Terrific
Meliza Banales (2015)
The first in her family to leave home, Missy Fuego, an 18-year-old queer, feminist Chicana girl, heads to an elite university in Santa Cruz where she finds a world unlike anything she's experienced before. A fun and empowering novel about sexuality, race, class, gender, and feminism told against a backdrop of punk shows, strip clubs, and California beaches.
Lot: Stories
Bryan Washington (2019)
Stories of a young man finding his place among family and community in Houston, from a powerful, emerging American voice. Bryan Washington's brilliant, viscerally drawn world leaps off the page with energy, wit, and the infinite longing of people searching for home. With soulful insight into what makes a community, a family, and a life, Lot is about love in all its unsparing and unsteady forms.
Love WITH Accountability: Digging Up the Roots of Child Sexual Abuse
Aishah Shahidah Simmons (2019)
Documentary filmmaker and survivor of child sexual abuse and adult rape, Aishah Shahidah Simmons invites diasporic Black people to join her in transformative storytelling that envisions a world that ends child sexual abuse without relying on the criminal justice system. Love WITH Accountability features compelling writings by child sexual abuse survivors, advocates, and Simmons’s mother, who underscores the detrimental impact of parents/caregivers not believing their children when they disclose their sexual abuse.
Mundo Cruel
Luis Negrón (2013)
On the pages of Luis Negrón's stunning debut collection, Mundo Cruel, readers will find raw, unforgettable characters, hilarious and heartbreaking stories, and beautiful writing. The nice short stories explore gay life in Puerto Rico, from youth to adulthood, with insight, emotion, and honesty.
Patsy
Nicole Y. Dennis-Benn (2019)
When Patsy gets her long-coveted visa to America, it comes after years of yearning to leave Pennyfield, the beautiful but impoverished Jamaican town where she was raised. More than anything, Patsy wishes to be reunited with her oldest friend, Cicely, whose letters arrive from New York steeped in the promise of a happier life and the possible rekindling of their young love. But Patsy’s plans don’t include her overzealous, evangelical mother―or even her five-year-old daughter, Tru.
Power & Magic: The Queer Witch Comics Anthology
Joamette Gil (2017)
Power & Magic is a comics anthology about queer witches of color for teens and adults ages 14-and-up. The book is over 160 pages long, black and white, and contains 15 original stories blending fantasy, drama, humor, and romance.
Q & A: Queer in Asian America
David L. Eng and Alice Y. Hom (1998)
This volume considers how Asian American racial identity and queer sexuality interconnect in mutually shaping and complicating ways.
Redefining Realness: My Path to Womanhood, Identity, Love & So Much More
Janet Mock (2014)
This powerful memoir follows Mock’s quest for identity, from an early, unwavering conviction about her gender to a turbulent adolescence in Honolulu that saw her transitioning during the tender years of high school, self-medicating with hormones at fifteen, and flying across the world alone for sex reassignment surgery at just eighteen.
Socialist Realism
Trisha Low (2019)
When Trisha Low moves west, her journey is motivated by the need to arrive "somewhere better"—someplace utopian, like revolution; or safe, like home; or even clarifying, like identity. Instead, she faces the end of her relationships, a family whose values she has difficulty sharing, and America's casual racism, sexism, and homophobia.
StrangeLore, Vol. 1
Viktor Kerney (2019)
A horrific crisis forces 19-year-old Brandon Hanks to leave Chicago and live with his grandmother in the sleepy town of Marion, South Carolina. As he settles into his new home, Brandon meets the cavalier and handsome Jackson Garrett. The chemistry between the two boys is instantaneous. However, things become complicated when Brandon learns that Jackson is a supernatural being, running from a dark and deadly past.
Under the Udala Trees
Chinelo Okparanta (2016)
While seeking safety from the civil war in Nigeria, 11-year-old Ijoema meets and falls in love Amina, another young girl from a different community. When their romance is discovered, the world, including Ijoema's mother, are determined to show the girls that they can't be together.
We Have Always Been Here: A Queer Muslim Memoir
Samra Habib (2019)
Samra Habib has spent most of her life searching for the safety to be herself. As an Ahmadi Muslim growing up in Pakistan, she faced regular threats from Islamic extremists who believed the small, dynamic sect to be blasphemous. When her family came to Canada as refugees, Samra encountered a whole new host of challenges.
Be Like Others
Tanaz Eshaghian (2008, USA)
An intimate and unflinching look at life in Iran, seen through the lens of those living at its fringes, Be Like Others is a provocative look at a generation of young Iranian men choosing to undergo sex change surgery.
Bessie
Dee Rees (2015, USA)
The story of legendary blues performer, Bessie Smith, who rose to fame during the 1920s and ’30s.
Brother Outsider: The Life of Bayard Rustin
Nancy Kates, Bennett Singer (2003, USA)
Sundance Festival Grand Jury Prize nominee, a 2003 documentary film about the life of civil rights organizer Bayard Rustin.
Brother to Brother
Rodney Evans (2004, USA)
Perry is an aspiring gay artist, and he currently lives at home with his father. Perry decides that he cannot hold his secret in any longer. Perry tells his father that he is a homosexual, and shortly thereafter, Perry is kicked out of his home. Perry is eventually taken into a homeless shelter, and there he meets an older man who can relate to him.
Change
Jeff McCutcheon & Melissa Osborne (2011, USA)
A gay African American teenager grapples with his young identity on the night Obama was elected president, and Proposition 8—the voter initiative to eliminate same-sex marriage—passed.
Chavela
Catherine Gund, Daresha Kyi (2017, Mexico)
Inspired by an exclusive interview and performance footage of Chavela Vargas shot in 1991 and guided by her unique voice, the film weaves an arresting portrait of a woman who dared to dress, speak, sing, and dream her unique life into being.
The Color Purple
Steven Spielberg (1985, USA)
An epic tale spanning forty years in the life of Celie, an African American woman living in the South who survives incredible abuse and bigotry. After Celie’s abusive father marries her off to the equally debasing “Mister” Albert Johnson, things go from bad to worse, leaving Celie to find companionship anywhere she can.
Contracorriente (Undertow)
Javier Fuentes-León (2009, Peru)
An unusual ghost story set on the Peruvian seaside; a married fisherman struggles to reconcile his devotion to his male lover within his town's rigid traditions.
Cruel and Unusual
Dan Hunt (2006, USA)
This film follows five transgender women incarcerated in men's prisons across the U.S. from Wyoming to New Jersey and Florida. Denied medical and psychological treatment, victims of rape and violence, the documentary Cruel and Unusual asks if the punishment for their crime is indeed cruel and unusual.
Fire
Deepa Mehta (1996, India)
Two women who are abandoned by their husbands, find love and solace in each other.
Game Face
Michiel Thomas (2015, USA)
Game Face shows the quest to self-realization of LGBT athletes and the acceptance in society. The film follows athletes during their coming out process and sheds light on the obstacles LGBT sports players deal with throughout their career.
Goodbye Mother
Trinh dinh Le Minh (2019, Vietnam)
Văn comes back to Saigon from the US with his boyfriend Ian to visit his mother. Being the male heir of the family, everyone expects him to take a wife soon. And to top it all, his grandmother, who has Alzheimer, mistakes Ian for her grandson.
Gun Hill Road
Rashaad Ernesto Green (2011, USA)
After three years in prison, Enrique returns home to the Bronx to find the world he knew has changed. His wife, Angela, struggles to hide an emotional affair, and his teenage son, Michael, explores a sexual transformation well beyond Enrique's grasp and understanding.
Hearts Beat Loud
Brett Haley (2018, USA)
In the hip Brooklyn neighborhood of Red Hook, single dad and record store owner Frank is preparing to send his hard-working daughter Sam off to college while being forced to close his vintage shop. Hoping to stay connected through their shared musical passions, Frank urges Sam to turn their weekly jam sessions into a father-daughter live act. After their first song becomes an internet breakout, the two embark on a journey of love, growing up and musical discovery.
I Am Not Your Negro
Raoul Peck (2016, USA)
Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
I Exist
Peter Barbosa and Garrett Lenoir (2003, USA)
Gay people exist in Armenia, Syria, Iran, Egypt and Sudan too. They are Christians, Muslims and Jews, belonging to and rejected by their own cultures. In this series of interview, we learn a bit about their lives and hear a few critiques of western media and its oversimplified, often negative depictions of these peoples and cultures.
Kiki
Sara Jordenö (2017, USA)
Filmed in New York City, Kiki focuses on the drag and voguing scene and surveys the lives of LGBT youth of color at a time when Black Lives Matter and trans rights are making front-page headlines. The film profiles several young LGBT people of color participating in contemporary LGBT African American ball culture.
Kumu Hina
Joe Wilson, Dean Hamer (2014, USA & Fiji)
A transgender Native Hawaiian teacher inspires a young girl to fulfill her destiny of leading the school’s male hula troupe, even as she struggles to find love and a committed relationship in her own life.
MAJOR!
Annalise Ophelian (2015, USA)
MAJOR! follows the life and campaigns of Miss Major Griffin-Gracy, a 73-year-old Black transgender woman who has been fighting for the rights of trans women of color for over 40 years.
Moonlight
Barry Jenkins (2016, USA)
The tender, heartbreaking story of a young man’s struggle to find himself, told across three defining chapters in his life as he experiences the ecstasy, pain, and beauty of falling in love, while grappling with his own sexuality.
Mosquita y Mari
Aurora Guerrero (2012, USA)
When Mari moves in across the street from Yolanda, an incident at school thrusts them into a friendship and into unknown territory. As their friendship grows, a yearning to explore their strange yet beautiful connection surfaces. Mounting pressures at home collide with their new-found connection, forcing them to choose between their obligations to others and staying true to themselves.
Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom
Patrik-Ian Polk (2008, USA)
As Noah and Wade prepare to marry in Martha's Vineyard, the personal problems of their friends—and the unexpected arrival of rapper Baby Gat—threatens to permanently end their relationship.
Out in the Night
Blair Doroshwalther (2014, USA)
Under the neon lights in a gay-friendly neighborhood of New York City, four young African American lesbians are violently and sexually threatened by a man on the street. They defend themselves against him and are charged and convicted in the courts and in the media as a “Gang of Killer Lesbians.”
Pariah
Dee Rees (2011, USA)
Alike (pronounced "ah-lee-kay") is a 17-year-old African American woman who lives with her parents and younger sister in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood, and she is quietly but firmly embracing her identity as a lesbian. Wondering how much she can confide in her family, she strives to get through adolescence with grace, humor, and tenacity—sometimes succeeding, sometimes not, but always moving forward.
Paris Is Burning
Jennie Livingston (1990, USA)
A chronicle of New York's drag scene in the 1980s, focusing on balls, voguing and the ambitions and dreams of those who gave the era its warmth and vitality.
Pay It No Mind
Michael Kasino (2012, USA)
Marsha P. Johnson was a drag queen, sex worker, and LGBT activist who fought at Stonewall and knew Andy Warhol. She was a New York fixture who made her motto her middle name: “Pay it no mind.” This documentary about her life includes the last interview she gave before the suspicious circumstances of her death in 1992.
Pick Up the Mic
Alex Hinton (2005, USA)
A Queer hip-hop fast-paced documentary on the world of queer rappers. Featuring searing public performances and raw, revealing interviews, the film captures an unapologetic underground music movement just as it explodes into the mainstream - defying the music industry’s homophobia in the process.
Saving Face
Alice Wu (2004, USA)
A Chinese American lesbian and her traditionalist mother are reluctant to go public with secret loves that clash against cultural expectations.
Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria
Susan Stryker, Victor Silverman (2005, USA)
The first major uprising against police brutality, harassment, and societal oppression was not at Stonewall in 1969, but at Compton’s Cafeteria in San Francisco three years earlier. Those who stood up were trans women and gay men. Now, nearly 40 years on, Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman tell the story of this oft-overlooked event in the history of American civil rights.
Set It Off
F. Gary Gray (1996, USA)
Four black women, all of whom have suffered for lack of money and at the hands of the majority, undertake to rob banks. While initially successful, a policeman who was involved in shooting one of the women’s brothers is on their trail. As the women add to the loot, their tastes and interests begin to change and their suspicions of each other increase on the way to a climactic robbery.
Strange Fruit
Kyle Schickner (2004, USA)
As a gay African American, William Boyals has escaped his small, racist hometown in Louisiana for a better life in New York City. But, when he hears that one of his gay friends has been lynched, he heads home to find the killers. In his pursuit of justice, William encounters many of the same old prejudices that existed in his childhood. He battles racist cops and homophobic locals while trying to stay alive and uncover the truth.
Stud Life
Campbell X (2012, UK)
JJ is a 'Stud' Lesbian. Together with her best friend Seb, a gay pretty boy, they work as wedding photographers. When JJ falls in love with a beautiful diva, JJ and Seb's friendship is tested. JJ is forced to choose between her hot new lover and her best friend.
Tangerine
Sean Baker (2015, USA)
It’s Christmas Eve in Tinseltown and Sin-Dee is back on the block. Upon hearing that her pimp boyfriend hasn’t been faithful during the 28 days she was locked up, the working girl and her best friend, Alexandra, embark on a mission to get to the bottom of the scandalous rumor. Their rip-roaring odyssey leads them through various subcultures of Los Angeles, including an Armenian family dealing with their own repercussions of infidelity.
Tongues Untied
Marlon Riggs (1989, USA)
Marlon Riggs, with assistance from other gay Black men, especially poet Essex Hemphill, celebrates Black men loving Black men as a revolutionary act. The film intercuts footage of Hemphill reciting his poetry, Riggs telling the story of his growing up, scenes of men in social intercourse and dance, and various comic riffs, including a visit to the “Institute of Snap!thology,” where men take lessons in how to snap their fingers: the sling snap, the point snap, the diva snap.
To Wong Foo Thanks for Everything, Julie Newmar
Beeban Kidron (1995, USA)
After Vida Boheme and Noxeema Jackson win a major New York City drag contest and a trip to Hollywood, they are persuaded to take the inexperienced drag princess Chi-Chi Rodriguez with them. They hire a beat-up old Cadillac and set off for Los Angeles, but their car breaks down in a small town in the middle of nowhere.
Two Spirits
Lydia Nibley (2009, USA)
Two Spirits interweaves the tragic story of a mother’s loss of her son with a revealing look at a time when the world wasn’t simply divided into male and female.
El último verano de la Boyita (The Last Summer of La Boyita)
Julia Solomonoff (2009, Argentina)
Young Jorgelina feels estranged from her older sister, who doesn't want to hang around with little kids anymore. Jorgelina travels with her father to the countryside, where her lifelong playmate Mario is undergoing some unexpected changes of his own.
The Watermelon Woman
Cheryl Dunye (1996, USA)
Cheryl, a young black lesbian, works a day job in a video store while trying to make a film about a black actress from the 1930s known for playing the stereotypical “mammy” roles relegated to black actresses during that period. This was the first feature film directed by an out black lesbian.
Young Soul Rebels
Isaac Julien (1991, UK)
Young Soul Rebels is a 1991 film by Isaac Julien which examines the interaction between youth cultural movements in Britain. Skinheads, Punks & Soulboys along with the political and cultural tensions between them. The film received the critics prize at the 1991 Cannes Film Festival.
Anzaldúing It
Two best friend queer latinxs staying on top of their horoscopes and avoiding their dissertations host a podcast that covers topics like self-care, toxic relationships, gender identity, astrology, sexuality, academia and much more.
Asali Earthwork
A queer femme of color resource and blog for healing through radical self and community care.
Bitter Brown Femmes
A podcast hosted by Ruben and Cassandra that tackles social, political, emotional, and community issues. Born of a necessity to take the Latinx/Chicanx community dialogue beyond mere identity empowerment and feel good/comedic fluff and into a realm that is critical of identity and society while advocating for marginalized peoples. We also aim to disrupt liberal complacency in systems of oppression by living up to our motto of: Dismantling Shit While Talking Shit!
Black Girl Dangerous
Mia McKenzie is the award-winning author of The Summer We Got Free and the creator of BGD, a popular media website that amplifies the voices of queer and trans people of color, and Black Girl Dangerous Media, an independent media and education project that centers queer black women and girls.
Nancy
BFFs Kathy Tu and Tobin Low are super queer, super fun and ready to take over your podcast feed. Join them for provocative stories and frank conversations about the LGBTQ experience today.
Never Before with Janet Mock
Janet brings all her selves to the mic — the fangirl, the journalist, the feminist — in an intimate space that allows her and her guests to give and bear testimony. She aims to get to the core of who they are, what mistakes shaped them, who influenced them, and why they do what they do. The conversation is a means of sharing selves, insights and experiences, and gives listeners the opportunity to learn from and laugh with the world’s most famous figures.
PhDivas
Liz Wayne and Christine “Xine” Yao cohost PhDivas, a podcast about academia, culture, and social justice across the STEM/humanities divide. An engaging conversation between friends and scholars, PhDivas fills a niche for witty and insightful discussion and proves that PhDs in Engineering and English literature have more in common than meets the eye. Past topics include teaching as women of color, graduate student unionization, different forms of evidence in the sciences vs. the humanities, and Black/Asian cross-cultural influences.
QTPOC Talks
Two local members of Portland’s Queer and Trans Communities of Color (QTPOC) with the goal to increase support for Portland’s Queer and Trans Communities of Color and the intersectionality of these identities. This show will act as a medium for uplifting the narratives of Portland's QTPOC community by providing updates, interviews and reporting national news pertaining to a Queer and Trans People of Color (QTPOC) demographic.
Queer Men of Color in Love
A Tumblr blog that is a celebration of love, resistance, and survival.
The Safeword Society Podcast
Launched in 2017 by QTPOC+ visibility company, SafeWordSociety is heralded for archiving the authentic narratives of QTPOC+ as a social justice initiative for public broadcasting and social networks. The hosts, Kristen McCallum and Lamika Young, use interviews & discussions with thought leaders, influencers and community members to navigate the authenticity of their identity.
SUAVE Trans
(SUAVE) - Showing Up Authentically [through all my] Varying Expressions as a Trans, Black/mixed race, non-binary, queer, nomadic artist. A personal testimony of my emotions, past and current struggles and triumphs, my relationship, transitioning with hormones and mental health. On this blog I vent, analyze, review media I enjoy, and sometimes share my poetry and music.
This QPOC Life
A podcast from the brain behind Edugaytion that looks at the world through the lens of a Queer Person of Color (QPOC). Each conversation is had with the intention of understanding how our mutual and individual experiences in different marginalized groups can empower us as larger community of whole people. In its second season, This QPOC Life took home People’s Choice at BRIC’s 2018 B-Free Media Awards. This QPOC Life is looking forward to entering is third season in fall 2019.
Werque Podcast
Voices for the voices that go unheard- Luis Camacho & Kim Blackwell explain what “Werque” means and why they thought their regular chat + kiki sessions might just make a good podcast. Luis talks about his life as a child and how he became a famous dancer.
BlaqOUT Conference
To create a space for folks who self-identify as Black/African American or of African descent and as Same Gender Loving, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Questioning or somewhere on the LGBTQ spectrum.
Creating Change
The Creating Change Conference, run by the National LGBTQ Task Force, is the foremost political, leadership, and skills-building conference for the LGBTQ social justice movement. The primary goal of the Creating Change Conference is to build the LGBTQ movement’s political power from the ground up to secure our overarching goal of full freedom, justice, and equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer people in the United States.
MBLGTACC: Midwest Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Asexual College Conference
An annual conference held to connect, educate, and empower queer and trans+ college students, faculty, and staff around the Midwest and beyond.
Midwest QTBIPOC Conference
Seeks to mobilize the communities’ deep commitment to centering the expertise, identities, vulnerabilities, lived experiences, and leadership of those most impacted by the social, political, economical, and structural injustices against the communities.
The National Black Trans Advocacy Conference & Awards Gala (BTAC)
A distinct educational and empowerment program, home to nearly 300 plus transgender and gender non-conforming individuals, our family, friends, community allies and corporate partners from across the country who are focused on advancing black trans equality. BTAC is a unique life changing (5) day event that furthers education, provides linkage to resources, community building and organizing, leadership development and celebration of diverse identities.
NCORE: National Conference on Race and Ethnicity
Formed in 1961, the Southwest Center of Human Relations Studies is devoted to the study, understanding, and resolution of human conflict and to promoting understanding and cooperation among people of different racial, ethnic, religious, and economic backgrounds. One of the major programs of the Southwest Center is the National Conference on Race and Ethnicity in American Higher Education (NCORE®). Held annually, NCORE® serves as the leading national forum of its kind and attracts national and international attendees representing more than 1,200 institutions of higher education, non-profits and other educational organizations.
NQAPIA Leadership Summit
Leadership Summit for LGBTQ Asian Americans, South Asians, Southeast Asians, and Pacific Islanders (AAPI). The National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliance (NQAPIA) is a federation of LGBT AAPI organizations. We seek to build the organizational capacity of local LGBT AAPI groups, develop leadership, promote visibility, educate our community, enhance grassroots organizing, and challenge anti-LGBTQ bias and racism.
¡Presente! Conference
Un espacio for the QT* community.
QTPOC Conference
The conference is organized to focus on people of color who are part of the LGBTQ+ community. People of all sexualities and gender identities are welcome to attend. The conference is focused towards people on college campuses (students, staff and faculty). You must be 18+ years old to attend.
Queer and Asian Conference
Every year, the queer and Asian conference (QACON) brings queer Asians and allies from across the nation to participate in engaging workshops, keynote speeches by prominent activists, performers, scholars, performances from our talented community, and so much more.
Queer Students of Color Conference
This conference is a safe space for queer and trans students of color to show up with their multiple identities. QTPOC folx often have to pick and choose which aspect of their identities they can present. This invites you to bring your whole selves to the conference.
TRANSforming Gender Conference
The conference hosts national and local transgender, genderqueer, and Two-Spirit activists and scholars to raise awareness of how we can celebrate the diversity of gender and biological sex.
At the University of Missouri—Kansas City, we recognize the importance of having easy-to-access resources. We hope this guide can serve as a starting point for finding not only support networks but also media representative of the intersectional identities within the LGBTQIA community.
If you would like more personal, one-on-one support, please consider reaching out to one of the many mentor programs offered at UMKC.
The goal of A.A.C.E. is to encourage academic excellence by providing first and second year African American UMKC students with mentoring and academic support services that will promote the improvement of academic excellence, persistence and ultimate successful graduation.
The Avanzando Program is designed to support all Latino Students on campus as well as Hispanic Development Fund scholars, IME Becas recipients and Agapito Mendoza Scholarship recipients with individualized support in reaching their academic and career pursuits.
The LGBTQIA Mentor Program pairs LGBTQIA+ graduate/professional students with other LGBTQIA+ students at UMKC. Mentors will offer support around identity development, academics, coming out, and/or campus and community engagement. Mentoring relationships are active during the academic year (August to May).
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